I was able to find 2 relatively unscathed Isla drums, a conga and large tumba from 2009.There are absolutely no cracks, just the usual scratches here and there and a few gouges.. and the drums do indeed sound incredible.The bass tone on the tumba is really amazing. The fit and finish is def. not on par with Matt Smith, Skin On Skin or PM Percussion, but the sound is! The top rims are a bit bent which I am told is indicative of the materials used and a common occurence on these drums. All and all great drums I would say! I love the shape, fat belly and 3 bottom bands! The skins are quite good as well. I played a variety of Pele's drums a while back and they had much thicker skins which I did not like as much as these thinner cow skins.

My first impression was that, mahogany but the more I looked at the pictures andthe wood grain the more they looked like stained canoe wood. I see the rim ears areriveted and I think he started doing that in Belize. I think you right.

Those congas really look like canoe wood to me, and not the mahogany. My mahogany Isla bata looked much different. They resemble the canoe wood Islas I have seen. Mario began making the crowns screws prior to moving to Belize. My requinto had screws and it was made in LA.

Mr. Rumba drums are clearly stained and they seem to be canoe woodaccording to Bongosnotbombs Mario made rims with riveted ears whilehe was still in LA. Mr. Rumba you may have canoe not mahogany drumsstill nice drums. Here is my quinto:

Thank you so much everyone for educating me about this wood. I had no clue about it before! I want to say that these drums sound great despite some questionable hardware (very bent top rim), and somewhat "uneven" craftsmanship. I still love them!